One of the more memorable moments of the offseason came when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declared the team “all in” for the 2024 NFL season. But the Cowboys’ anticipated big moves never came, and the team sits at 3-4 in jeopardy of missing the playoffs.
The Nov. 5 trade deadline is the final opportunity for Jones to make good on that proclamation. Below we examine a long-shot scenario that would decisively prove the Cowboys are all-in on making a deep playoff push for 2024.
Cowboys Need To Bolster Offense With Receiver Trade
Trade proposal:
- Cowboys receive: WR Cooper Kupp
- Rams receive: 2025 conditional third-round pick
Before we get into the logistics of this, it’s worth noting that any Cooper Kupp deal is highly unlikely. Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay was fairly unequivocal on declaring Kupp off limits with the Rams on a two-game win streak and just a half-game out of the NFC West lead.
Full McVay clip about Cooper Kupp. I knew a lot of those speculations were false. Love how he handles and addresses it! Of course teams will call asking about a trade for a 2-4 team.
Kupp here to stay though! pic.twitter.com/HPBrbiWjzO
— Derek Q (@thederekquinn) October 25, 2024
For argument’s sake, the Cowboys could pretty readily absorb this price and Kupp’s contract. Dallas has a little over $23 million in cap space, per Spotrac, more than enough to absorb the remaining proration of Kupp’s $15 million base salary for 2024.
But whether it’s Kupp or any other wide receiver, adding another pass catcher would be wise for the Cowboys. Even with CeeDee Lamb not quite producing at his record-breaking 2023 levels, Dak Prescott has remained an efficient passer when targeting his top wideout. The story hasn’t been the same when targeting any other player.
Prescott’s passing stats, 2024:
- Targeting Lamb: 8.5 yards per attempt and 0.15 EPA per target
- Targeting all others: 6.5 yards per attempt and -0.11 EPA per target
While it’s no surprise Prescott’s numbers would look better targeting Lamb, he wasn’t this inefficient last year throwing to the other Dallas pass-catchers. In 2023, Prescott averaged 0.05 EPA per dropback targeting non-Lamb receivers.
Entering Week 9, Prescott ranks only 24th in PFN’s QB+ metric, which takes a variety of situational EPA and success rate measures to produce a grade for each quarterback. PFN’s Ben Rolfe wrote this on Prescott, who has a D+ grade of 44.7:
“Prescott is another quarterback who got paid this past offseason and has then struggled on the field. His Week 8 performance was his fourth with a C grade or lower. This is so far below his previous numbers between 2019 and 2023 that it’s fair to ask if there is something more going on here in terms of injury or off-field concerns.
“One of Prescott’s recent hallmarks has been his calmness and poise under pressure, but those numbers have fallen off this year. He’s also struggled from a clean pocket, resulting in his third-down conversion rate and nYPA numbers divebombing while he has struggled in a couple of different clutch spots.”
Kupp would obviously bolster the Cowboys by providing a legitimate non-Lamb option for Prescott to lean on. But even if the Rams’ receiver is out of reach, Jerry Jones should remain committed to his “all-in” promise and add help at the deadline.